Sales of Vacation Homes Surged Last Year

March 30, 2012

Sales of investment and vacation homes surged last year, the latest evidence that investors and higher-income households are taking advantage of low home prices to scoop up bargains. In its annual survey, the NAR found that the number of homes purchased by investors rose 65% during 2011 to 1.2 million, accounting for 27% of all [...]

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Home Prices in U.S. Cities Fell at Slower Pace in January

March 27, 2012

Home prices in 20 U.S. cities dropped at a slower pace in January, pointing to stabilization in the real estate market.  The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 cities fell 3.8 percent from a year earlier, after decreasing 4.1 percent in December.  Prices were little changed in January from the prior month, the best performance since [...]

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Pace of Housing Price Decline Slows

March 22, 2012

The decline in real-estate prices has slowed its pace as falling prices spur buyer demand lifting home sales and new construction from the depressed levels of the past three years.  A sustainable recovery will be slow, however, because of the tight credit standards, 11 million homeowners who owe more than their house is worth and the glut [...]

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Foreclosure Comes Slowly For The Costliest Homes

February 29, 2012

High-end homeowners are able to remain in their houses, without making payments, for far longer than those with smaller mortgages. Nationally, borrowers with loans of at least $1 million were in default for an average 792 days last year before banks repossessed their homes. For loans under $250,000, the wait stood at an average 611 [...]

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U.S. home prices at post-crisis lows: Case-Shiller

February 28, 2012

U.S. home prices in December fell to their lowest level since the housing crisis began. The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city composite fell 1.1% in December, to wrap up 2011 with a 4% downturn. The index hasn’t been this low since February 2003 and has dropped 33.8% from its peak. In December, every city measured but Phoenix and [...]

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Existing Home Sales Gradually Increase But Prices Fall

February 24, 2012

Sales of previously owned homes in the U.S. increased 0.7% in January compared with the same month last year. Some of the recent growth in sales may have been the result of the mild winter. January’s median sales price, however, was down 2% from a year earlier. Wall Street Journal  February 23, 2012

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Should Rates on Mortgages Be Lower?

February 22, 2012

Mortgage rates are the lowest on record. But by a key historical measure, they should be even lower. For months, a key interest rate on mortgage-backed securities, known as the current coupon yield, has tumbled faster than average U.S. 30-year mortgage rates. In recent weeks, the difference between the two has flirted with levels seen in the [...]

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Merrill Lynch Predicts Housing Recovery Will Start In 2014

February 16, 2012

The main impact of the settlement on the housing market will come from the new guidelines clarifying best practices for servicing delinquent loans.  This should mean the foreclosure process should start to speed up again.  We look for prices to fall 7% from 3Q11.  We forecast that the real recovery will start in 2014, and [...]

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FORECLOSURES TO CLIMB BEFORE BANK DEAL HELPS HOUSING MARKET

February 13, 2012

Thursday’s $25 billion settlement with banks over foreclosure  abuses may result in a wave of home seizures, inflicting short-term  pain on delinquent borrowers while making a long-term housing recovery more likely.  Lenders slowed the pace of foreclosures as they negotiated with attorneys general in all 50 states for more than a year over allegations of faulty and fraudulent [...]

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Home Prices Drop 14% in Ocean and 8% in Monmouth in Q4 2011

February 10, 2012

Although momentum is building in the New Jersey housing market below $400,000, median prices continued to drop in the fourth quarter of 2011.  According to Jeffrey Otteau, president of Otteau Valuation Group, Ocean County saw the largest percentage median price decrease in the fourth quarter, down 13.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010.  Monmouth [...]

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LOSING A PARENT COMES WITH MANY TASKS

February 6, 2012

As older parents approach death, they often leave lengthy to-do lists for their children.  Here is how to deal with your parents’ stuff while preserving family harmony and finances. Wall Street Journal  February 5, 2012

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Yale’s Shiller Says U.S. Home Price Declines May Continue

January 26, 2012

Home prices in the U.S. may continue to fall, according Robert Shiller, an economics professor at Yale University and co-creator of the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index.  Despite “mildly positive signs” in the housing market, “we may continue to see home price declines,” Shiller said today in a radio interview.  “It is an ‘‘incredibly bad situation in [...]

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